I Ascend Alone-Chapter 135: The Birth of National Level Part XIV

My response to Pyraethrax's question was not words, but a will.

I lifted one hand—and from the rift forming behind me, the Abyss offered.

The bow emerged like a god's judgment, not conjured but revealed—pulled from inventory.

Nox'Thalos, The Abyss Monarch's Bow.

A weapon not built to kill, but to end.

I drew it slowly. One arrow. No quiver needed.

The air rippled as the shaft formed—dark, slender, a singularity spiraling at its core. The temperature dropped instantly. Ice bloomed in the cracks of the broken earth. Even the fires of Pyraethrax dimmed, his flames recoiling from the sheer presence of what was coming.

A second passed. The shadows behind me howled.

Another second. Two more arrows formed beside the first.

Phantom Volley.

Three arrows hovered in perfect harmony, overlapping slightly—one becoming many, many becoming one.

But I wasn't done. Because I wasn't simply shooting him. I was erasing him.

[Skill Activated: Eclipse Requiem – Ultimate Abyssal Shot]

The sky ruptured. Not thunder, but vacuum. The air shattered as the bow creaked back fully, tendons in my arms tense with pure abyssal power, symbols along my forearms blazing.

The watchers couldn't breathe.

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Even Pyraethrax, who had faced gods and annihilated civilizations, hesitated.

Because he felt it. This wasn't a strike to slay a dragon.

This was a judgment passed on the idea of him.

My gaze locked on his.

"You said your death would be a signal," I said coldly. "Let's make sure they hear it."

"YOU!!" He angrily shouted while trying to defend himself

I released.

The world tilted.

The arrow left my grip—and the sound that followed was silence.

True silence.

The singularity arrow twisted forward—spinning, pulling space and color and dimension into itself.

Every layer of reality bent in its wake. The ground cracked in a perfect spiral. Light warped around it. Even time stuttered.

Pyraethrax roared and unleashed everything—firestorms, plasma bolts, molten claws wide.

But none of it mattered. Because Nox'Thalos did not miss.

The arrow struck his core. And in a single breath, the sky collapsed.

White light, black, then nothing.

The explosion was not fire, not shadow, but absence.

A crater formed that defied logic—neither deep nor wide, but absolute. The edges of it flickered, struggling to stabilize in a world that was never meant to witness such finality.

When the light faded, when the void finally stopped screaming...

Pyraethrax fell.

The Weapon District was decimated. But at its center, I stood unmoved, the bow of the Abyss Monarch vanishing so as my Abyss Monarch form slowly into smoke behind my back.

-

Cheers erupted behind the barricades.

A cacophony of stunned laughter, disbelief, and victory cries.

President Vaughn had dropped into his seat, gripping the railing like he might fall. His suit was soaked in sweat. He turned toward the massive broadcast screens, half-choked on a breath that turned into a laugh.

"We're... alive?" he muttered.

Agent Hale didn't answer—he was already raising both arms to signal the all-clear, voice cracking into his comms. "Target is down. Repeat, TARGET IS DOWN! Full halt on evac protocol—standby for perimeter lockdown!"

Hunters along the barricade screamed, some collapsing to their knees. Orion Graves let out a long, low whistle. "Now that's how you end a dragon."

And on the livestreams, global chats exploded:

***

@HighTierHunterFan99:

WHAT. DID. I. JUST. WITNESS???????

@Ghostcaster:

Bro didn't use magic. He used a WHOLE NEW LAW OF PHYSICS.

@D-ClassForLife:

You guys seeing this?? That's not a bow—that's the END of things.

@ArbiterAnon:

Was that skill even legal?

@HunterNationsLive:

Confirmed: Weapon District is intact, but completely changed. City-A officials requesting emergency containment teams NOW.

@StarfallObserver:

He walked out of a city-leveling detonation... then fired one arrow and ENDED a Dragon?! Who IS this man!?

@ChthonicTruth:

...he's not human. That's not a Hunter. That's something else.

***

And then the cameras caught me again.

Still cloaked in the lingering remnants of abyssal smoke, coat in tatters, face unreadable beneath flickering horns and a fading crown of shadows.

I was walking slowly and steadily toward Pyraethrax.

Reporters scrambled to refocus their drones, zooming in as best they could—half their feeds still jittering from the fallout. One drone's lens focused through scorched air and caught the full image: my footsteps silent against molten debris, each step echoing like a decree.

The once-titanic dragon—now reduced. His form lay broken, his scales dimmed, steam rising from the ruin of his body

I came to a stop beside the fallen titan.

I extended my hand over his shattered core—where the remnants of his essence still churned, flickering, resisting the inevitable.

And then—

[System Notice]

Soul Claim Protocol Initiated.You have chosen to engage [Abyssal Monarch's Right of Dominion].

Target: Pyraethrax the Ember Tyrant

Processing...

Soul Resistance: 88.6%Condition Modifier: -35% (Catastrophic Injury / Ego Fracture)Monarch Authority Modifier: +42%

Final Claim Success Rate: 96.4%

Begin Subjugation?

[ Yes ]

I didn't hesitate.

"Yes," I said, and the Abyss answered.

Chains burst from the shadows—not physical, but conceptual. They spiraled from my palm, dragging through the void like rivers of onyx fire. They pierced Pyraethrax's soul, wrapping around his essence as he screamed—not in sound, but in a psychic eruption that made the air itself recoil.

His body convulsed. Flame fought back. For a moment, the world shimmered as a second sun tried to rise.

But I crushed it.

The mark of the Monarch on my chest ignited fully, a circular crest blooming like an eclipse made of runes and truth. The shadow crown above my head flared once, then cracked into five shards—each embedding into the air like spears.

The chains tightened.

The Abyss roared.

And Pyraethrax yielded.

***

[System Notice]

Soul Claim Successful.

Calamity-Class Entity Subjugated.

Name: Pyraethrax the Ember Tyrant

Status: Bound

Class: Calamity-Class Subordinate

Title: Abyssal Flame Herald

Soul Signature Transfigured. Subject now serves the Abyss Monarch.

Subordinate Traits Unlocked:

— [Apocalyptic Inferno: Worldburner Class Flame Control]

— [Molten Sovereignty: Territory Corruption via Fire Essence]

— [Draconic Eternity Core: Passive Regeneration / Undeath Resistance]

— [Abyssal Integration: Shadowfire Mutation Achieved]

Subordinate may be summoned or dismissed at will.Subordinate may be commanded or fused with for unlimited durations.

***

The ground trembled—not in chaos, but in submission.

From the center of the crater, where fire once ruled, silence reigned... until Pyraethrax moved.

Slowly—like a god bowing for the first time—the great dragon's form shifted. No longer molten, no longer glowing with solar fury. His scales, once seething with magma, had darkened into a deep obsidian black—slick like liquid shadow, yet edged with glimmers of void-born flame. His wings unfurled behind him like great veils of smoke and fractured stars, each movement laced with abyssal weight.

Abyssfire smoldered from his maw, not in rage, but in reverence.

He lowered himself.

This beast, who had razed continents, challenged gods, and defied death—knelt.

His enormous head bowed low to the ground before me, horns scraping the scorched stone, wings tucked in a gesture of submission. The once-ember heart at the center of his chest pulsed now with a dim, violet-black glow—the mark of my dominion etched across it in burning script.

And then, in a voice that no longer shook mountains but resonated through dimensions...

"I humbly serve the King."